IOC-IOA meeting postponed yet again

With the sports ministry and Indian Olympic Associ­ation yet to sort out their differences on age and tenure, the proposed joint meeting of the stakeholders with the Interna­tional Olympic Committee looks bleak.

The meeting, supposed to resolve the IOA’s suspension by the world governing body, was slated for the second week of April at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne. The earlier meeting had been scheduled in January.

But Vijay Malhotra, the acting IOA president, shot off a letter to the ministry on Wednesday, saying it would be futile to go to Lausanne unless the government stand on the National Sports Code was clear.

“The government needs to clarify its position on the constitution of a committee to redraft the Sports Bill, which encompasses the earlier guidelines and regulations imposed by it on the IOA and national sports Fede­rations (NSFs),” Malhotra said in his letter to the sports minister.

He has been one of the critics of the Sports Code as it emphasises on age and tenure of key officials, including the president and secretary of federations. “Since the Sport Code is in violation of the IOC Charter, it is not acceptable,” he wrote. “The IOA will constitute a small delegation as desired by the IOC only after getting a positive response.”